This is the first comprehensive professional guide to the strategies and techniques of competitor analysis for the financial services industry. It explains how to set up systems and models to identify and analyse competitors and their products. The book begins with an overview of the need for competitor analysis in financial services. It continues with the identification of competitors, the setting up of competitor analysis systems, and a consideration of key sources of information. The core of the book examines the process of analysis, modelling, dissemination and monitoring of information and its application for competitive advantage. Key concepts in Competitor analysis in financial services: Don't just copy others' systems Understand the need for competitor intelligence Find out what competitors do Understand the methodology Set up the systems to fit your company This book is thoroughly practical in its approach and international in its coverage and is essential reading for all financial services professionals seeking competitive advantage.

The 2008 credit crisis started with the failure of one large bank: Lehman Brothers. Since then the focus of both politicians and regulators has been on stabilising the economy and preventing future financial instability. At this juncture, we are at the last stage of future-proofing the financial sector by raising capital requirements and tightening financial regulation. Now the policy agenda needs to concentrate on transforming the banking sector into an engine for growth. Reviving competition in the banking sector after the state interventions of the past years is a key step in this process. This book introduces and explains a relatively new concept in competition measurement: the performance-conduct-structure (PCS) indicator. The key idea behind this measure is that a firm’s efficiency is more highly rewarded in terms of market share and profit, the stronger competitive pressure is. The book begins by explaining the financial market’s fundamental obstacles to competition presenting a brief survey of the complex relationship between financial stability and competition. The theoretical contributions of Hay and Liu and Boone provide the theoretical underpinning for the PCS indicator, while its application to banking and insurance illustrates its empirical qualities. Finally, this book presents a systematic comparison between the results of this approach and (all) existing methods as applied to 46 countries, over the same sample period. This book presents a comprehensive overview of the knowns and unknowns of financial sector competition for commercial and central bankers, policy-makers, supervisors and academics alike.

For academics, regulators and policymaker alike, it is crucial to measure financial sector competition by means of reliable, well-established methods. However, this is easier said than done. The goal of this Handbook is to provide a collection of state-of-the-art chapters to address this issue. The book consists of four parts, the first of which discusses the characteristics of various measures of financial sector competition. The second part includes several empirical studies on the level of, and trends in, competition across countries. The third part deals with the spillovers of market power to other sectors and the economy as a whole. Finally, the fourth part considers competition in banking submarkets and subsectors.

Financial services firms play a key role in the European economy. The efficiency and profitability of these firms and the competition among them have an impact on allocation of savings, financing of investment, economic growth, the stability of the financial system and the transmission of monetary policy. This collection of research contributions includes evaluations of trends in the European financial service industry and examinations of the driving forces of efficiency, competition and profitability of financial firms and institutions in Europe. The papers have been written by leading academics and researchers in the field, who specialize in strategic, systematic and policy issues related to the European financial services industry. This edited collection will be will be essential reading for students and academics but will also be of interest to financial practitioners and government officials interested in acquiring a deeper understanding of this complex issue.

This new and comprehensive database on the regulation and supervision of banks in 107 countries should better inform advice about bank ewgulation and supervision and lower the marginal cost of empirical research.

Inhaltsangabe:Abstract: Within the last few years, dramatic changes took and still take place in the retail banking business. On the supply-side competition for cooperative banks is increasing due to various reasons. New competitors with different business models have entered the market. There is no doubt that they pose a serious threat to cooperative universal banks (which were the focus of this dissertation) and whose market share is declining constantly. Furthermore, non-banks and near-banks have to be considered in this respect, too, as these entities' business models are increasingly targeting customers of universal banks. On the demand side, changing customer behavior has accelerated transformation processes in recent years. An increased willingness to change suppliers can be noticed as consumers are placing more and more importance on price. A strong price awareness is changing market conditions in many business sectors in Germany. Decreasing customer loyalty forces universal banks to push sales activities and to intensify their personal relationship with the customer. The main objectives of this dissertation are the following: Work out a strategy within today s typical structure as a universal bank. Identify key success factors and evaluate this strategy for its chances for success. Derive the consequences for the future business model of a cooperative bank. Determine the change steps necessary to strengthen the competitiveness. Furthermore, the prerequisites of such a change process will have to be worked out. An inductive approach was chosen to achieve the aims of this thesis (Gill & Johnson). Firstly, an in-depth analysis of existing literature was carried out in order to gain an overview on current developments such as a) customer behaviour, and b) the competitive situation of the financial services sector. The results were to produce not only an explanation for current trends but also allow the prediction of future trends over the course of the next years. The environment in which cooperative banks are operating was described in detail. This approach provides a good basis to identify the relevant factors and to work out the necessary consequences for cooperative banks. In order to examine possible conclusions, interviews with 12 experts in the field were conducted. The target groups were CEOs of cooperative banks and representatives of cooperative bank associations. It is those people who are confronted with new challenges [...]